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Primark
Primark is an Irish fast fashion retailer headquartered in Dublin, and a subsidiary of ABF. The company's first store was founded by Arthur Ryan on behalf of the Weston family in June 1969 on 47 Mary Street, Dublin, the store remains operative to this day. History Success in Ireland led to expansion to the United Kingdom, and Penneys opened a large store in Belfast City Centre in 1971 and one in Derby, England, in 1973. The company could not use the name "Penneys" in Europe outside Ireland because JCPenney had the name registered. The name "Primark" was then invented to use outside Ireland. Primark opened its current international headquarters in 2015 in a redeveloped Dublin building, Arthur Ryan House, formerly Chapel House. On 28 August 2018, a fire started on the roof of a Primark store in Belfast, destroying the building and emitting plumes of thick, black smoke over the city. The building was a former bank with historical value that had been renovated previously. Products Primark offers a diverse range of products, including newborn and children's clothing, women's wear, men's wear, home ware, accessories, footwear, beauty products and confectionery. Starting in 2014, Primark welcomed Sephora products which are being sold starting at £1. Primark starting selling vegan snacks as of January 2018. The company sells clothes at the low cost end of the market below average prices. Along with retailers such as the Zara and H&M, Primark contributes to the contemporary fast fashion trend. According to an article about Primark in The Economist, "For many shoppers, Primark has an irresistible offer: amazing trendy clothes at amazingly low prices. The result is a new and even faster kind of fast fashion, which forces consumers to buy heaps of items sometimes even the same ones to use when the first ones worn out, discard them after a few wears and then come back for another batch of new outfits." Stores Primark owns over 350 stores. The largest Primark store was located on Market Street, Manchester, England, occupying 155,000 sq ft (14,400 m2) of retail space across three floors. However this was surpassed as the largest store when a new store was opened in Birmingham on 11 April 2019, occupying the former Pavilions Shopping Centre of 161,000 sqft. The company expanded rapidly in the UK in the mid-2000s. In 2005, it bought the Littlewoods retail stores for £409m, retaining 40 of the 119 stores and selling the rest. In May 2006, the first Primark store outside Ireland and the United Kingdom opened in Madrid, Spain. After 10 years of constructing a chain of around 40 stores in Spain, Primark opened another store in Madrid in October 2015, the second biggest in the chain. In December 2008, Primark opened in the Netherlands, followed by Portugal, Germany and Belgium in 2009. Primark opened its first store in Austria on 27 September 2012 in Innsbruck. It expanded to France in 2013, in Marseille. The first Italian store opened in 2014. In 2015, Primark opened its first United States store in Downtown Crossing, Boston, in the location that was once the flagship store of Filene's, later NYC, Philadelphia, and Danbury. In July 2018, it was revealed that Primark was entering Poland. On 28 August 2018, fire seriously damaged or destroyed the listed Belfast store as it came close to the end of a major redevelopment. The Belfast store was at risk of collapse, but was reopened on 8 December 2018. This year it will open a store in Ljubljana, Slovenia, taking Primark to its 12th country. It has also signed a lease for a store in Warsaw - its first in Poland. Not content with entry into Poland and Slovenia, with a store in Ljubljana due to open in the summer, Primark confirmed in its pre-close update that it has now signed for a store in Prague. Store Locations * King Of Prussia in King Of Prussia, PA Category:Retailers by type Category:Retailers Category:Department stores Category:Discount stores Category:Mall Retailers Category:Big-Box Stores